Morning journal and courier., 1887-05-12
A WARTIME SPY.

How Thomas N. Conrad, of Virginia,
 Served the Confederacy.
 From a Letter in the Philadelphia Times. l
 had become so emboldened by frequent and successful scouts into Washington city; my nerves had become so trained by ire quent contact with Federal officers and sol diers; my manner made imperturbable by sudden shocks and unexpected surprises; my soldier life so habituated to this environ ment that I had well-nigh concluded l was not born to be hung or shot, and was ready to shake hands with Stanton or dine with Grant. Meeting friend who was 8 clerk in the War department, I was informed thai an important paper would be in his office in few days-a tabulated statement which would be interesting document to the
 Confederate War department. He would
 make a copy of it and leave it upon his desk
 at s1unch hour" if I could devise any way to secure it. l told him I would walk into his
 office myself and get it if he would guaran-
 tee it to be on his desk at a specified hour.
 This was done, and as the crowd of clerks
 were passing in and out during "1unch hour"
 walked into the War department of Wash-
 ington, to the room of my friend, winked at him as I passed him in the throng, got the paper and walked out as composedly as Stan tons private secretary could have done, and
 before s'lunch hour" of next day that tabu- lated statement was in the War department of Richmond.
 Finding that I would be constantly de-
 tailed upon these trips, I called upon the
 Confederate Secretary of War and advised
 establishing a reliable line of communica tion between Richmond and Washington. He indorsed the proposition and requested me to establish it at once. signal station, under the charge of a lieutenant, had been in successful operation upon the Potomac for some time and had proven very successful. But the War department needed direct line of it's own, subject to it's order and reliable at all times To establish this I rode from the front door of the War department of Richmond to the Potomac river, crossed the river and rode to the front door of the War department of Washington and established the line throughout. Having selected high cliff near Boyd's Hole on the Potomac as the site for my shanty and men, I wrote to the Secretary of War for an outfit.
 Upon receiving boat and equipment l se- lected two IrishInen who were expert oars men and courier, and had them detailed for the post. The negro man, who had been with my regiment since 'G1 and had been the body servant of the heutenant-colonel and after his death served me, made the five who composed the detail. So with four men, three horses, good boat, fine field glass, pocket compass and 'quarters" upon high cliff of the Potomac, was ready for opera tions I crossed the river and selected three ! practising physicians, who could ride at any ! hour of the night without being suspected or arrested by Federal troops, being known as ! neighborhood doctors, and who were heart | and soul in sympathy with us. Whenever I was in Washington and wanted to send | dispatch to Richmond I called upon the phy- sician living near the navy yard and gave | him the dispatch. He would ride over the navy yard bridge, which was always under guard in his doctors buggy and give the l dispatch to physician No. 2. He would ! mount his horse and ride to the house of physician No. and deliver it, and he would | ride to certain point on the river and place 1 the dispatch under ledge of rocks. That
 night the boat would come over from my I camp, get the dispatch, take it to camp, give l it to the courier, who would at once ride to | the telegraph office and have it telegraphed ! to Richmond Thus in less than twelve l hours could send dispatch from Washing ! ton city to Richmond. This line existed
 until Lee surrendered at Appomattox, and l rendered invaluable service to the Confede-
 racy Whenever found the Potomac close ly picketed or patrolled I would take my negro man over the river with me and send him inland to ascertain and report where the 1 Federal squad was and the several picket
 posts As he was ''reliable contraband, ,
 no one ever distrusted him, and l. relying
 upon his report, would follow his instruc-
 tions, glide through the picket line and be- gin my march for Washington.
 1 On one of my visits to Washington, and while staying with southern sympathizer, II was informed that Colonel Baker, the head of the detective bureau, had informa-
 tion of my presence in the city, and that
 the sooner got out of the city the better l it would be for me. I at once saw g l friend, who was acquainted with the cap ! tains ot schooners and traded with them l and requested him to accompany me that l night to the wharf and introduce me to re liable owner of one of these crafts. He die so, and paid the captain one hundred anc fifty dollars in greenbacks to take me aboard ! at once and on the morrow sail down the
 river and drop me opposite Maryland Point l on the Virginia shore. I slept in the dirty
 bunk as best could, played cook while the
 Federal inspecting officer of Alexandria
 boarded us, and the following morning was in my ''Eagle Nest camp" relating my adven | ture Colonel Bakers men searched the ! house of my Washington friend within less
 than hour after I left it, examined every l room, wardrobe, attic, cellar, wine-cellar and | out-buildings and seemed indignant that l they did not catch me.
 On another occasion I was approaching
 the navy yard bridge, which is the great en
 l trance into the city from southern Maryland
 l on horseback and noticed that the cavalry | picket stationed at the bridge was scanning
 | me very critically. I knew arrest would bt fatal and unless he could be at once dis } | armed of all suspicion would be arrested My horse became affrighted at the noise ant commotion usually around the navy yaro
 and began to snort and jump, and l instantl. seized this as the pretext, and calling to tn cayalryman, said: 'tPlease to strike m. l horse with your sabre and drive him on th'
 bridge for me-" The cavalryman laughed entered upon the work with great deal ol zest. called to his comrades to assist, and soon the 'srebel scout" was driven into , Washington city by the sabres of loyal cav F alrymen.
 known to the 'fPotomac fiotilla" crossing be came quite hazardous. The gunDoals .,s %ere . very vigilant and effective. To elude them . required caution and strategy. Whenever I contemplated crossing before nlghtfal would take my feld-giass, go out upon head and watch the movements or the gun boats for hours to ascertain thelf patrol. Thasa ounboats are as formidable as infantry
 and more to be dreaded by parties crossing tbe river than pickets upon the shore. They
 oen shut off every light and drift along ) noiselessly upon the water, and before you 1 are aware of their presence your little keel } hottoned boat would be riding the waves caused by their approach. Then suddenly
 they can flash out their reflected lights far ont upon the darkened waters, and letting ) on full head of steam, with the flash and } rapidity of sheet lightning, seize the object 1 of their search before you can recover rom the pa1alyZing shock. Many a dark night : with calm upon the waters that inspired ar unholy dread, with muffied oars and bated breath and steady stroke, our little craft moved out from it's shadowy eoncealment and started upon it's mission of conseerate6 devotion to a E'cause" not then ''lost," know : ing full we'll that capture meant an ignomini ous death.
 CONNECTICUT SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION MEETING WATERBURY, May 1.-The district meeting of tn Connecticut Sunday School association contin ned this morning at the Baptist church. MT. Georg